10 Brilliant Benefits Of Swimming You Should Know

Wellness

oi-Neha Ghosh

By Bindu Vinodh

on July 9, 2018

Swimming is one of the best fun exercises loved by both adults and children. It is also a great way to keep fit and an activity that can be enjoyed with family and friends anytime, anywhere. There are a wide range of benefits that you may gain by swimming regularly.

According to experts, adults need to get minimum of 150 minutes of moderate activity every week, and swimming best suits this need. It is a great way to work out your whole body and cardiovascular system.

What's more, swimming burns up as many calories as running, without impacting your joints and bones. Read on to know more about the benefits of swimming and what makes it a good all-round activity.

1. Effective Workout For Your Whole Body

One of the major advantages of swimming as an exercise is that it works your whole body, head to toe. It increases your heart rate without stressing you out, builds strength, tones muscles, and helps build endurance.

The various strokes you add to your swimming workout, such as breaststroke, butterfly stroke, sidestroke, backstroke and freestyle, each of them focus on various muscle groups, as water provides gentle resistance. Irrespective of what stroke you use, most of your muscle groups are used when you move your body during a swim.

2. Effective Weight Loss Tool

Swimming is a great way to burn calories and mobilize the fat in the body. You will begin losing the extra flab in your body. A person weighing 72 kg burns about 423 calories every hour when swimming laps at a low to moderate pace, and burns 715 calories when swimming vigorously.

On the other hand, when doing low-impact activities such as walking, the same person may burn just about 314 calories on walking for an hour.

3. Good Cardiovascular Exercise

Swimming can help improve your heart health and protect you from potential cardiovascular diseases. So, if you are leading a sedentary lifestyle, and are not a gym person, you can enjoy the cool water which can help keep cardiovascular ailments away. In fact, various studies have confirmed that swimming is the best exercise for keeping your heart in a good condition.

Another point to note here is that in a US study conducted on middle-aged women, it was found that those who swam one hour a day for 3 weeks had lost weight, improved their blood lipid profiles, and had a drop in their blood triglyceride levels. High triglyceride levels are associated with heart diseases and early death.

4. Improves Bone Strength

Generally, bone mass decreases with age, particularly in women. Swimming and other aerobic exercises can prevent this bone loss. Studies conducted by scientists have revealed that swimming improves osteoporosis, strengthens the bones and improves bone mass.

5. Ideal For Arthritic Patients

Swimming is a safe exercise for people with arthritis, injuries, and certain disabilities, as it can help in reducing pain and improving their chances of recovery. According to a study, people with osteoarthritis have reported reduction in joint pain and stiffness, and have experienced less physical limitation on engaging in activities like cycling and swimming.

6. Can Help People With Asthma

The humid environment at indoor pools can make swimming seem like a good activity for asthmatic patients. Asthma occurs due to inflammation of airways, blocking them, in-turn leading to difficulty in breathing. Few studies have confirmed that swimming can help reduce asthma bouts.

The breathing exercises associated with swimming, which require you to hold your breath, may help in expanding lung capacity and gain better control over your breathing. However, some chemicals that are used to treat pools, may pose a risk too. So if you have asthma, consult your doctor about taking up swimming as an exercise.

7. Strengthens And Tones Muscles

Apart from helping with weight loss, swimming also helps in toning and strengthening your muscles, thereby helping you remain fit. Due to the repeated movement of hands, legs, neck, chest and abs, you build slender muscles, and with practice, the strength of your muscles improve.

8. Helps You Sleep Better

Swimming can help you sleep through the night. In a study conducted on older adults with insomnia, the participants showed improved sleep and quality of life with regular aerobic exercises, including swimming. Therefore, swimming is a good choice for the elderly, to improve their sleep patterns.

9. Safe For Pregnant Women And Kids

Swimming is safe enough to be practised during all three trimesters. In fact, women who practiced swimming during their early and mid-pregnancy showed lower risks of pre-term labour and congenital defects. However, in case of complicated pregnancies, some women may have some restrictions. In that case, talk to your doctor before taking up any exercise.

Swimming is among the best exercise for kids too, as they enjoy this fun activity, as it doesn't feel like a formal workout. A Korean study has revealed that swimming helped reduce fat mass in obese children.

10. Supports Mental Health

Mental health issues such as stress, depression and anxiety can be kept at bay through swimming. This is because swimming helps in uplifting of mood, and it also treats other psychological issues.

In short, swimming is a healthy activity that you can continue doing for a lifetime. So, if you have been planning to join a swimming team, or are planning to enroll you children into structured swimming class, now you know what to do, right? Just get started!'

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